I'M STILL GROWING UP
by unnoticedTurmoil
Summary: Karkat wakes up 10, 000 sweeps in the future and seems to keep seeing familiar faces everywhere he goes. No grown trolls can be found in the land of children. Why is he still alive? What happened to Alternia? Where are the grown-ups? And who is stealing his memories? Karkat doesn't want to forget.
1. Chapter 1

you sit in the old throne of the sufferer, collecting cobwebs that remind you of Vriska, who reminds you of everyone else. That's why you've quit thinking about them. That's why you've quit moving. If you don't move, you won't get hurt. The only reason you're still alive is the crabs. They bring you food, but you don't touch it. The real reason you're alive are the injector crabs. The soft skin on the underside if your arm is pockmarked with the tiny holes of where the injected crabs stick they're needle like mouths into it, where they inject you with food like their eggs and young. You've been sleeping mostly. It doesn't hurt in your sleep. Everybody's there, everybody's happy, the wounds have faded away, nobody blames you.. Its nice. You feel like a good leader again. And while you dream of your days of six sweeps, your body waits.


	2. Chapter 2

I'M STILL GROWING UP

BY unnoticedTurmoil

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Your name is Jamwik and you've finally done it. You've reached the last room in the cave system you discovered under your hive. It was so strange. It was piled with pillows, but nobody lived there anymore. Pictures of trolls were painted on the walls, some barely recognizable from history books. The trolls were neatly drawn in little squares of differing colors, leading you to suspect it's a diagram of some ancient machine or ritual. But the most interesting thing were the signs of the Jack of All Trades littered throughout the diagram. The Jack of All Trades was the mysterious dark prince that appeared out of nowhere to help the Queen during the rule of the Witch. The Queen of Light made a treaty with the Jack and together they defeated the Batterwitch and restored the world to peace. unfortunately, when the Queen died, the Jack disappeared. It was fascinating to look at, but the cave complex went on for meters. You'd explored every inch of it. Except this tomb. You almost missed it, due to it being sealed with a rock slab. You lifted the slab, smelling the old damp air from the tomb. You cautiously climb down, wondering what treasures you're going to uncover. You're in a throne room of some sort, there are stone carvings and blood drawings along the walls and a huge stone throne in the back. Food is piled everywhere in various degrees of rotting. Some have turned to mulch while others look fresh and good to eat. You wonder at this for only a moment as your eyes are drawn to a male troll in battle armor. He sits, perfectly preserved, on the throne, one arm draped over the rest of the throne, the underside if his elbow exposed with tiny open wounds. His other had the elbow folded on the rest, his head in his hand. His eyes were closed and yours played tricks on you to imagine a fluttering behind the lids, as if he was just sleeping. You get up close, trying not to touch the preserved corpse, to see what class he was. You trip and fall into his lap. You freeze in horror as slowly, slowly the head turns toward you.


	3. Chapter 3

**okay nignig, karkat is 10,007 sweeps old, roughly equating 20,014 years, but looks as if he's only 16/17 years. More on how he got that way later.**

-unnoticedTurmoil

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They stared at each other, one's voice frozen in fear, the other's frozen from misuse. Then slowly, slowly the elder started to speak to the boy in his lap.  
"wh.. Who.. Are.. You..?" he said slowly, painfully slowly.  
"I, I'm JAM." the boy said. "jamWIK CavDIG." The troll nodded oh, so slowly. "you'RE a GROWN-up." the troll looked at him.  
"so I am." he said as if agreeing with a grub, but not really meaning it. The boy carefully climbs down from the man's lap. He spots a glint of gold from beside the throne.  
"are THOSE the IMperIal BLADES?" he said a little loudly, eyeing the gold handled silver bladed sickles in awe. The older troll closed his eyes slowly and leaned his head back slightly.  
"so.. You've found me, huh?" he said dryly. It takes a moment for Jam to understand what he means. He took a sharp intake of air.  
"you'RE the JACK of ALL Trades?" he asked breathlessly. The older troll stiffens, but Jam goes on without noticing. "WE thought YOU were DEAD!"  
"I wish." he snorts.


	4. Chapter 4

You've been traveling through the underground cave system that used to be the resistance's hide out. The Sufferer started it, but in his day there were only four. You wonder if he'd have lived as long as you if he'd been allowed to live. You wonder if he'd have been proud of you. Probably not. You make an effort to listen to the talkative boy.  
"they SAY you WEREn't THE fastEST troll Alive, 8UT the MOST skilled. THEY say YOU could CUT down AN INdiGOblood MID flashSTEP."  
"that one's true.." you say slowly in a low voice, looking sadly down into the body of freshwater that'd been the resistance's water supply. A tall troll with long, straight wavy hair, wearing old, thin, rutted battle armor, armor made for a skilled fighter focused on speed and footwork rather than strength, and a snarling mouth. You coil your muscles slowly, everything's been painstakingly slow since you've woken up, to spring if sprung on, before realizing it was you. You stare into your reflection. Your hair was long and greasy, past your shoulders, near your pits. You reach back and pull your hair into a tail behind your head, keeping it in place with a band that once belonged to Aradia. You've grown taller. Not as tall as someone your age should be, or someone whose age you look at least. You definitely looked older, you look like a young adult. You certainly don't look like that skinny as a reed and lanky ass kid you did when you took down the Condescension with Feferi. Feferi would have hardly recognized you. Especially near the end. Why? Why hadn't you aged right? You lived long. Longer than most trolls, longer than you should have. Your gross human blood should have sent you to death earlier than any caste, but its kept you longer instead. Feferi said it might have been her life powers. She never could control them. Then why did she die? Especially from something like old age?


	5. Chapter 5

"REALly?" the kid asked a little loudly, ignoring the sadness in his face. He looks at him with big eyes that look too young for the rest of his body.  
"he was my best friend." he says looking back into the pool sorrowfully.  
"j, JACK." he says timidly. The man's head snaps up at the kid.  
"That's not my name." he growled angrily. The kids eyes were wide in fear. He hadn't thought he'd scared him that much. He hears a huff from behind him and whips around. A big growlbeast stands before them, its small green eyes looking at them coldly.


	6. Chapter 6

You're terrified and really really hoping the Jack does something quick, like kill it. You look to the Jack, but he's standing there frozen. He slowly lowers his hands and sheathes his sickles. You're about to yell at him when the bear roars.  
"SKREEEEEEEE *click click* SKREEEEEEEE!" the Jack screeches at the beast in a shrill noise and clicks his tongue. The bear growls and he clicks some more. He turns to you.  
"we've stumbled into a lusus den. if we're quiet and fast he'll let us pass through." he says. You look at him in shock and nod. The Jack speaks to lusii. Shit, is he awesome.


	7. Chapter 7

The boy and his idol walked through the den swiftly and quietly. The man was walking fast enough for Jam to hurry but slow enough for him to keep up. It seemed as if he knew the caves well and Jam could avoid tripping on most of the cracks by following in his wake.  
"SO.. Jack.." the boy whispered.  
"that's not my name." he hissed back.  
"but.. JACK.." he puffed, trying his best to start a conversation with the man he'd admired from so many books and stories, of which there were not many.  
"that's not my name." he growled angrily and turned to look at the kid. "and how could i have been associated with the calling card of that treacherOUS BASTARD!" his voice rose until he'd shouted the last word. Jam looked about uneasily as a rumbling started in the distance and lusii heads started appearing from the rocks around them.  
"shit" the jack muttered and grabbed the shorter troll. He started running with the boy under his arm, not waiting to see what he woke up.


	8. Chapter 8

You were put down as the entrance of a small air hole to the cave. The Jack had shoved you out ahead of him, then pulled himself up. He looked around.  
"we're in terezi's woods." he said starting off to his right. You started to follow him when he stopped and started left. "or is it Nepeta's forest?" he took a step forward, then back. "Tav... Gamz..." he stopped and looked each way confusingly.  
"um" you start to ask him a question.  
A suckle flies at a tree and gets imbedded in the wood. Seconds later he slides under it and sits with his back barely supported by the tree, his face hidden in his arms and his arms resting, crossed, on his knees which were curled into the curve of his body. He looked like a dejected little kid who was pouting, or crying. You wait for a moment to see if he'll do anything else.  
"I GUESS 8rown-UPS are LIKE little KIDS after ALL.." you mutter under your breathe. "um.. DO you KNOW where YOU are, SIR?" you ask hesitantly. He doesn't respond so you clear your throat and talk a little louder in a steadier voice. "I could SHOW you THE way TO.. wherEVer YOU're GOin8."

"YOU know THE topO8raPHY and Even THE 8eOGraphY might'VE chan8ed SINCE you WERE last... HERE." you don't really know what to say. You found your idol, one who'd been missing for sweeps. Judging from the cobwebs in that throne room, he'd been there for some time. What'd he been doing? Sleeping? Hiding? What would he have to hide from? He could've been King of the trolls. They could've protected him from an enemy. So what was he hiding from? And if he'd been hiding, he wouldn't have left so readily. You were looking at the man you had once thought was invincible acting like a frightened grub. But you couldn't be disappointed. You looked at him and all you could think was, he needs a hug.  
"IF you'RE name ISn't JACK, and I knew IT wasN'T, sir, 8UT Jack OF All TRADES is A tiTLE, like KING or QUEEN, then DO you MIND me ASKin8 what YOUR name IS?" you say, looking for a response, any response. He shifts slightly, eyeing you from under his unusually long bangs.  
"my name is Karkat"


	9. Chapter 9

"where DO you WANT to GO karKAT, sir?" you say after a while. You think you remember that name being mentioned in a book you have in your library. You have an itch to go check, but you can't just leave this guy to wander off on his own.  
"home." he said, his head lolling a little on his forearm. "I want to go back to my hive." he says again, louder, looking up at you with pleading eyes. You feel your heart break a little.  
"I,i DON'T know WHERE that IS.." you say, wringing your hands together. You somehow managed to keep your breaking heart out of your voice. His head lolls back down on his arm.  
"I dunno then.. Somewhere I can do first aid?" he asked. You nod.  
"okay." you say, "follow me." you start off. karkat stands up and pulls the deeply imbedded sickle from the tree with some effort. He followed along, sheathing his sickle, as you lead him to your hive.


	10. Chapter 10

"WHAT class ARE you, 8Y the WAY." the boy asks.  
"class?" karkat asks, uncertain of the term.  
"Here EVeryONE is RULED by CLASS. beCAUSE of WHAT kin8DOM were IN." Jam explains.  
"Kingdom?"  
"Yes. AFter the QUEEN died AND you WENT missING, chaOS broke OUT. To FIGHT the CHAos SOMEone HAD to STEP up. CURrentLY there ARE six RUlers AND five KINGdoms. THERE'S the CENtral, THAT'S more OR less CIRcuLAR. Its RUler IS unKNOWN, but EVeryONE calls HIM the KING. The FARTHest one NORTH is THE kin8DOM of 8LOOD. The QUEEN of 8LOOD is A mass MURderER named AraDJA, but SHE doesN'T show UP too MUCH, so IT'S more OR less SELF ruled. IT'S basICalLY a FREE marKET in THE blood CAPitAL, alWAYS. farthEST south IS the CAPitAL ciTY of LIFE. That's WHERE we ARE. Not IN the CAPitAL, in THE kin8DOM of LIFE. We GO by CLASS of LONGevITy. Lon8ER lifeSPAN equals HIGHer CLASS. maROONbloods DON'T get FAR here. THE capITal IS led 8Y the LAdy, SUMmer DEAtre. SHE sits IN the JADE paLACE aLONE and ONly TALKS to HER adVIsors THROUGH trollIan. "  
"You still have trollian?" karkat asks in wonder. He'd have figured they'd have something better by now.  
"YEAH. Is THERE anYthin8 8ETter?" Jam asks, looking back at Karkat with honest curiosity.  
"Uh.. Go on." he says, masking his uneasiness at such an honest face. People with faces like that get hurt, he thought, thinking of Gamzee and John.  
"... Ok... THE westERN kin8DOM is THE kin8DOM of SONG. It's RULED by A blue8LOOD who SINGS a TON. Like ALL the TIME. They MOVE off USEful SKILLS. The MORE useFUL you ARE, the HIGHer STANDards YOU enJOY. blackSMITHS and SEAMstresSES are REALly POPuLAR there. THE kin8dom TO the EAST is THE kin8DOM of CURiOSitY and RAPture. IT'S by THE ocEAN, so IT'S mostly SEAdwellERS, but WATerTROLLS are ALL ovER. mostLY freshWATer IN the WEST, salt IN the EAST. curIosIty AND rapTURE'S rulERS wandER aROUND their KINGdom AND deCIDed THAT their CARaVAN is THEIR capITal, SO good LUCK to ANyONE wantING to FIND someONE livING in THE capITol. KURiUZ and RAPtor ARE the RUlers THERE, but KURiUZ has 8EEN dead FOR aWHILE. RapTOR'S a LITtle... 8ROKen AFter HIS sisTER died, AND he REfuses TO beLIEVE she's DEAD." he said, using the term sister loosely. It was a special term in troll society a troll will use pertaining to another troll who mutually both see the other in all their quadrants, but don't take in any, it to the rare occasion that a troll will produce two descendants in one generation. They travel through the trees until they come along a steep hill. Jam looks out at the forest ahead of them and does a 360 turn to get a landscape view. Karkat waits patiently, catching his breathe standing slumped against a tree. He'd been asleep for awhile, so he wasn't used to this kind if exercise. Jam seems to have gotten his bearings.  
"Okay, I know WHERE we ARE. We're NEAR the CAPITAL, so WE'LL just GO up THERE," he says pointing up the hill, "and VIsit MY friend AUSsie inSTEAD of Walking TO my HIVE. It'll 8E quicker AND," he eyed karkat, "I don't THINK you'll LAST unTIL my HIVE." he doesn't mention they've been walking the opposite way from his hive. Karkat shakes his head.  
"I'm..fine. I..don't..want to..be..around..a lot..of people.." he gasped, still trying to catch his breath. Moving nonstop from the moment he woke up from a who knows how many sweeps long nap was a bad idea. At this rate he'd pass out if he didn't stop soon. He, of course, was either too stubborn admit it or too uneducated to know. Jam looked at him skeptically then started coughing and hacking as if something was in his throat. Karkat looked at him with wide worried eyes and got up off the tree to steady the kid.  
"are..you..okay?" he wheezed.  
"I'm *koff koff* FINE. i JUST *hack* inHALED the WRONG way. *koff koff hack koff*"  
"like hell..your fine.. We're going..to this..Aussie's house.." Karkat glares at him when Jam tried to protest. He glanced up the hill as he remembered the directions, then lugged a grinning Jam up the hill.


	11. Chapter 11

At first you're stunned. You can't take a single step down the other side of the hill. You're looking out on multicolored hives all packed together with terraces and clothes lines and it looked like a rainbow barfed on Cinque Terre mixed with Venice. Rivers Pockmarked the city. You'd never seen anything like it. It was beautiful.

* * *

**Cinque Terre is a group of towns in Italy that were painted in various colors**  
-unnoticedTurmoil


	12. Chapter 12

**imagine-davekat, i apologize for the difficult read. From now on Jamwik will speak like a normal person, mmkay?**  
-unnoticedTurmoil

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You let Karkat take in the sight, but you couldn't help noticing how hard he was breathing. Maybe he wasn't just out of shape. Maybe he was sick. You'd take him to Rikhev's hivestem. Rikhev was a doctor.


	13. Chapter 13

"those are humans!" you exclaim, pointing at the crowd in the city. Jam leans over, squinting, to get a better look.  
"yeah, sure are." he looks at you. "how did you know what a human was, they're fairly new to alternia.  
"I used to live with some." you shrug. It mustn't be a big deal if humans were on Alternia. Maybe John and Jade made it after all.


	14. Chapter 14

"hey, Rikhev." you whisper to his back door. The door opens up casually.  
"Jammich, you kould use de vront d-" Rikhev stops mid sentence staring at the man behind you.  
"this is Karkat." you tell him slowly. He gapes at him for a moment before grabbing your shoulder and pulling you to the side.  
"e's a grown-up" he whispers in your ear.  
"I know." you respond. He grips your other shoulder, turning you to face him as he stares you in the eyes.  
"e's a grown-up!" he says again in a normal voice. Karkat looks up.  
"that's what Jamwik said too" he pointed out, puffing his cheeks a bit. "is growing up a problem?" Rikhev turns to him.  
"dere are no grown-ups."


	15. Chapter 15

**sorry fellahs, computers suck, therefor I'm lifting the deadline. it'll have to be whenever I can post a freakin chapter. of course my brain already is making a new story up and therefor I'm writing three at once. luckily I have some chapters already writ up for this one so it won't go on hiatus like AND YET THE SOUL WILL FLY. although it seems like hiatus is a silly word to use for a freely and sporadically updated work anyway.**

-unnoticedTurmoil

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"all de grown-ups disappeared about an 'ear ago. No one knows where dey went. We just woke up one day an dey weren't dere."

"where'd they go?" karkat asks you. You look at him.

"no one knows where dey went." you say slower.

"well, why didn't they take me?" he asks, a truly confused look on his face. That can't be right. You check his heart again. His heart rate was twice as fast as a violetblood, who possess the record for fastest heartbeat in a sitting position. You look at him, trying to see if hes relaxed or panicked.

"what?" he says, seeming to get uncomfortable under your gaze. He starts fidgeting Â little.

"are yu aware dat yu chould be ded?" his falls into a sorrowful chaos of misery.

"everyday." he mutters just so you could hear. Dude's got problems.

"no, I meant dat de increased beat rate uf yur hart chould be making yu keel ofer vrom inkreasingly hie blood lefels."

"what?" he says looking at you with a truly blank look.

"yur hart is going to kill yu." you say slowly. His brow furrows in frustration.

"what the fuck is a heart you asswipe!" he yells at you, throwing one of his arms in the air so you have to dodge a bit.

"wut?" you say incredulously. "ow do yu not know wut an hart is?"

"oh, I don't know, maybe I wasn't here for who knows how long?! For all I know, I might not have a heart!" you bust out laughing. His lip juts out and he crosses his arms. He glares at you.

"iv yu didn't haf a hart, yu'd be an biologikal mirakle." you explain. He glares at you some more, his brow furrowing even farther. You roll your eyes, trying to come up with a better way to word it so he'd understand. This seemed to infuriate him more. He was one of the oddest people Jamwik'd ever brought you, and you've seen everything from the eternally bleeding blueblood to the kid with cancer. Â And it wasn't just because he was grown. It was like his body grew up, but he was still a kid on the inside. He was apparently always aggressive, but never wanted to fight. If he was a child, you'd even describe him as cute. Jamwik pokes his head in the door.

"how's it 8oin8?" he asks casually. Karkat flips him the bird and Jammich started laughing behind his hand, his eyes aglow with mirth. Nevermind, fuck Karkat, the prick needs to leave as soon as possible.

"e doesn't know wut an hart is." you say instead of shooting karkat on the spot. Karkat glares at you harder. Jammich pauses for a while, his eyes far away in thought, he chewed slightly on his lip but not hard enough to break the skin. He gracefully raises a hand and lays each delicate finger and perfect nail flat as he finally focuses back on the room where you were sitting.

"karkat, your blood pump is your heart." he says quite certainly. Karkat seems to be knocked out of his glare upon the world. He pouts on the counter instead.

"why couldn't he have just said that." he mutters.

"troll vocabulary has been effected by the humans. for examle, the adulation chamber is now called the shower, and the supplementary nutrition prepare block is now called a kitchen." Jammich explained thoroughly. Karkat just pouts. You have the urge to stab him with a scalpel.

"that's stupid." he says. You snap.

"YUR STUPIT!" you shout angrily. He raises to your level of challenge, towering over you, his teeth bared in defensive aggression. You held your ground, placing you left leg slightly behind your right, tightening your muscles, ready to bounce. Jammich looks worried.

"guys, try not to fight okay?" you break your stance, standing straight for Jammich. Jamwik leaves the room and your hostility raises 30% toward this stranger. Karkat seems to have given up on you, ignoring you all together throughout the entirety of the rest of the physical.


	16. Chapter 16

You stare at the child before you. She's a beautiful little girl with round-based meowbeast ear shaped horns. Her eyes are a brilliant greenish-teal and you couldn't help gaining a protective instinct about her. She had long hair pulled up in two tails, one on each side if her head. She was lovely, and reminded you very much of Nepeta. Most striking about her, and what confirmed your unspoken hope, was the sign on her chest, the sign on her little blue overalls. It was Nepeta's sign, the sign of the leo. She glanced up at you and saw you watching her. You blink, startled, as she prances over.

"hi! What'ss yourr name?" she asked happily, bouncing against your knee, putting her small hands onto your leather thigh covers.

"k,karkat.." you say to this little girl, the replica of nepeta, this ghost.

"my name'ss Nerreti!" she exclaimed, grabbing your hand in a firm shake. You could feel Jamwik and the doctor watching you interact with Nereti.

"nice to meet you nereti." you say softly baking her hand gently.

"why werre you watching me?"


	17. Chapter 17

Karkat watches her sadly for a few moments.

"you look a lot like your ancestor." he says finally. Nereti's eyes get huge.

"you knew herr?" she gushed breathlessly, so excited she could hardly contain herself. For a troll q learn about their ancestor is one of the greatest things that can happen to them. Most trolls in this age where born with the knowledge, but Nereti was of the few last born from the mother grub. She was old age material, leftover from the past.

"knew her? For a while I was her morail... but I wasn't very good at it. Her first morail was probably her only real morail, but she'd convinced herself she couldn't be without one." he told her. She looked at him with confused eyes. Sometimes he would say something like that, use an unfamiliar term. What was a morail? A matesprit? Kismesis? Auspitice, red rom, black rom? He'd also use old Alternian, which now was only used in formal conversation. He didn't realize his mistakes until someone pointed them out, and he still hadn't come to par to not have 'quadrants', whatever they were.

"what wass she like? Who did she like? Did she havve a boyfrriend? Wass she evven a girrl? What wass herr favvorrite food? Did she nevver eat something, like hate it? Did she kill anyone, evverr? What'ss a morrail?" Nereti exploded with questions. Karkat tried to answer as best he could.

"she was tall, nice, but a hunter. Um, I know she liked someone, not her matesprit, but she never told me who. Uh, no, I guess. Not the human term for one, anyway. In human terms, it was a girlfriend. Yes she was a girl. She liked to eat featherbeast. She hated those little green trees... Broccoli. Yes. A morail is like the second part to yourself. Sometimes the mother grub will confuse trolls' slime and mix some together, then take it apart again. The result Is two trolls of two and a half pails instead of the casual three pails. Her first morail had been Equius, and I'm pretty sure he was the only one she could have had." he fell silent and so did Nereti, sensing it upset himself somehow.

"morrailss seem so rromantic." she said cautiously.

"yeah... I guess so." he looked at her. "that was her favorite thing you know. Romance." Nereti's eyes lit up. "she used to tell us who'd get together with who, but she never told us who she shipped herself with. Except pale for Equius."

"you said I look like herr?" he looked at her again in surprise before his face softened.

"yeah. She didn't have long hair, she kept hers short so it wouldn't get in the way when she hunted. But you have her eyes, and you have her smile." Nereti grinned huge at this. He seemed to remember something. "hold on, I have something to give you." her eyes got huge as she watched him reach under his narrow breastplate to a pocket in his leather jerkin. He pulled out an old worn blue cap made from the hide of a blue lioness, a creature extinct for several sweeps. Your eyes got just as wide as hers got wider.

"Nepeta, your ancestor, would wear this everyday. She told me to hold onto it when she died, so I'd never forget her. I don't think I could forget her if I tried." he handed her the hat. She took it like it was a national treasure of the highest degree. "you can have it if you promise to never let me forget, okay?" he said, looking at her with sad, pleading eyes. She looked at him. She stuffed the hat on her head, pulling it down so far as to hang Â over her eyes and to neatly cover the tops of her hair tails. She leapt at him in a hug.

"nevverr." she whispered to him, then ran to play with the other children. You heard a bang and turned to see Rikhev running down the walk. Karkat wandered over to listen as he stopped in front of you, desperate and out of breathe.

"what's wron8 rikhev?" you ask him, resting your hand on his back, steadying him with your other hand gripping his shoulder.

"de, de ovvisials.." he gasped, "dey'r komming!"


End file.
